Author's note: I wrote the introduction as a sort of brief synopsis of the start of StarFox64, just for those who might not have played it or don't quite remember it. With this in mind, this is probably extraneous; however, it's still practice for me.

This is my first fanfiction ever, so in all likelihood, this will probably suck greatly. But, I'm doing this as a sort of a creative outlet and to try something new, expand my horizons, whatever. Point is, it's likely to be really bad, but I'll never know unless someone tells me.

The story follows a group of original characters in the setting of the Lylat Wars. Team StarFox is currently just a mercenary squadron to them, so there'll be little mention of the team. If I do feel inclined to later on and the characters face off against anyone canon-based, I'll tread extremely lightly and be excruciatingly careful so to not ruin . . . something. Heck, I don't know.

Enough of this, though; let's get this started and see if it flows like a story should.

Prologue

In a galaxy quite distant from our own, a rather peaceful race of being reside. Their kind knows diversity, with many variants in species, type, and in as many ways the imagination could possibly believe; however, they also know peace. Despite the many differences, every last one of them lives not for survival of the fittest, but for coexistence in harmony.

Near the beginning of recorded history and following a rather bleak and catastrophic Dark Age, the people of the Lylat system began to truly see eye-to-eye. Because of this harmony, they were able to expand themselves beyond simple borders of religion and distrust, and push toward achievements to cause their peace to ever last. Some disputes still arose from time to time, as such is only nature itself; however, it was never anything serious and solutions were easily found in a quick and civil manner.

Without a need for war for many centuries, the Lylatians and their civilization would grow at a steady rate, unhindered by arguments and pushed by acceptance. However, as true as the saying that nothing will last forever, the system soon found itself within a fit of controversy.

A truly brilliant mind awoke in the turn of the most recent century, and he was the basis of the turning point the Lylat system had never seen or expected. His intelligence allowed him to cognitively perceive things beyond anything anyone had ever imagined. Upon reaching adulthood, he quickly found himself the lead scientist for his home planet of Corneria.

With his mind, they were able to push forward so far in development, that they easily surpassed any previously recorded speeds in history. Their space programs flourished, modern society boomed, and conveniences advanced, leading to a period of prosperity marked as the highest point ever.

However, there were several flaws among the scientists planning, ones that caused quite a number of uprisings against many of his experiments. So confident was he, that he rarely sought to protect many of the things he tested, claiming that his calculations were so flawless, nothing could possibly go wrong. But even with the most thorough planning and execution, the public and those involved with the scientists' work knew fear and apprehension, the kind not felt since before recorded history.

In many respects, the scientist still had several childhood tendencies, and when others sought to see that he wouldn't get his way, the scientist would find ways around them, tantrum or otherwise. The spatial anomalies inside and near the rim of the Lylat system are just some of this scientist's more controversial works, unnaturally formed in the shapes of the letters X, Y, and Z. Many others were simply kept hidden from either the public or his superiors.

Until one fateful day, everything changed.

The scientist struck. He had many enemies at the time; however, one was the most outspoken. Eventually, the scientist sought to silence the man, using several experiments in succession, until eventually just planting a high-powered explosive in the right space, at the right time.

But for once, things did not go as planned.

The scientist's enemy was nowhere near the bomb when it went off. Ironically, his wife, that had told him to stay home that day, was the one killed. The brutal death caught everyone off guard, even the scientist. He never meant for the death of an innocent in his plan, and he never had any of his plans fail before.

Things unraveled from there.

The investigation teams never were able to link the scientist to that death, as he'd been able to thoroughly cover his tracks on that case; however, he wasn't so lucky on several others. Many of the experiments that had been secret for several years were slowly uncovered as they fruitlessly sought to link the scientist to anything they could involving that act of terrorism—which ironically happened to be its original purpose, to stop his opponents from considering going against him.

With each piece that was uncovered, it was another weight on the scale to push toward the scientist's sentence. Since the society had felt they'd moved beyond any death penalties, it was pushed that he'd suffer a fate supposedly worse than death: exile.

And so, the scientist was sent from the Lylat system, deemed to never be able to return. And with that, everyone felt they could rest easy, confident that things could continue as they were before the scientist appeared in the universe.

They never thought he'd return.

The Lylat system had been woefully unprepared when the rogue scientist, who had taken refuge on the supposedly barren and toxic planet of Venom, declared war against the fourth planet, and his former home, Corneria. At first, it was taken as a sick joke, sure that the scientist was long dead; however, when he proved himself quite healthy, not a single person laughed as he took over his first few planets, starting with Macbeth—the heart of Lylat's aerospace industry.

The Lylat system was shocked. The scientist had managed to mass an army of a nigh uncountable number in seemingly little time at all, all willing to die for his cause: revenge.

With the Lylat system never seeing such a massive war within recorded history, this was not named so simply. It was a massacre. Several planets fell to the rogue dictator of Venom, as did numerous sectors of space, while drawing nearer and nearer to his goal of Corneria. Hoping to right their mistakes, the military fiercely retaliated, hoping to push back Venom's troops, but it wasn't enough. Because the scientist had been there through most of Lylat's troop production, his own troops were easily able to wipe out any who opposed.

As Corneria grew cornered, hope was quickly fading as the rogue scientist sought to make sure that the last thing to pass through Lylat's citizens' dieing thoughts was the name Andross.

As the sectors remaining dwindled, Corneria continued to fight with all its might. A region near Corneria, just outside of an asteroid field and nearest to a nebula formed by one of the scientist's passed experiments—Sector Y, has been taking increasing casualties over the past week, constantly losing ground along with their numbers. It wouldn't be long before they, too, fell.